Other American Indian tribal leaders have landed in court over use of funds

American Indian leaders from other tribes have faced criminal prosecution on charges of misspending casino profits and using tribal funds for personal benefit.

In California, seven former officials of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians have pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges, including theft and misuse of tribal funds. They are accused of spending $40,000 to fly first-class and using tribal funds for personal items and to make $25,000 in political contributions.

In Minnesota, former U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug's office successfully prosecuted the leaders of two tribes for corruption in the mid-1990s. In one case, a tribal attorney spent funds on a lake home, Minnesota Vikings tickets and three golf carts, Lillehaug said.

"The evidence was clear and was of course accepted by a jury that tribal leaders had not been spending tribal money for tribal purposes but for their own personal purposes," he said.

In any government, "there is always a temptation for leaders to divert money for their own purpose, and sometimes tribal government is no different," Lillehaug said.

In the Minnesota cases, one defense was that other tribal leaders had approved the spending, Lillehaug recalled.

"In both cases at some point the members of the jury just started rolling their eyes," he said. "They knew that such expenditures would never be tolerated in companies that they worked for or in other legitimate governmental units."